You ask Kahliel which way you should take and he says: "The desert offers us no place to hide, and I fear my people cannot endure another desert crossing. We will take the rocky path through the hills to Gondor."

When Revealed: Shuffle the Mountains of Shadow encounter set into the encounter deck. Remove the Desert Sands encounter set and the other stage 2A from the game.

As you travel along the edge of Mordor a feeling of unease sets in and you fear that you are being watched.

Forced: After a player plays an ally, he must exhaust that ally or raise his threat by 1.

Forced: When this stage is defeated, advance to a random stage 3.